Thoughts from the Art Director

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Thank you all for your interest in Aion. I am the lead Art Director Hyung-jun Kim. I’m glad to meet you!

Have you ever wondered what a game development studio's art team actually does? In truth, it's all about drawing! We are the individuals responsible for sketching the game concepts which, when put together, create the game world.

When a player enters this world, the first thing they see is the sky, buildings, trees and nature – the whole world around them. Once the surroundings have been taken in, the player will begin their adventures, and their search for monsters. Everything you see in the game, from the ground below to the sky above, has been drawn by the art team.

Every day, watching the world of Aion being created is like being a god! That said, it is a lot of hard work to create so many things out of nothing, so when I need inspiration I always think back to my childhood.

Everyone can remember the fairytale books their parents gave them. From the scene of a mighty adventure on the front cover, to each page and paragraph inside, the story makes you dream about becoming the prince that rescues the princess, or the knight that slays the dragon (Maybe some of you dreamt of being the dragon instead?). For me, my dream was to become an illustrator of a fairytale book, helping children to imagine and dream of adventures.

These days, whilst I'm not a fairytale illustrator, the work I do on Aion is similar. It’s tough, but it’s also just as fun! My work is in creating worlds where people can use their imagination and play around, like in a fairytale. It has to be a world as detailed as everyone’s imagination, so every little detail is important. That is why I pay attention to even the smallest of things, from scattered stones to a blade of grass.

Anybody can have feelings about our art, of course, and provide first impressions about what they like and don't like. Whilst this creates a lot of pressure for us, it doesn't affect our passion to create new things. Being an artist allows you to create a world and draw the player in, and this gives me a lot of pride and sense of accomplishment while doing my work.

Finally and more specifically, talking about the world of Aion, we are looking to avoid the traditional medieval fantasy, instead focusing on the unique concepts of Aion. Even images of “darkness” or “war” have to be uniquely drawn, to make them incomparable to any existing themes. We hope the world of Aion will be one where the player can express and feel a lot of imagination.

So, I have heard that you all want to jump into the game world of Aion – and that’s great! Please be patient, as even today, the art team is working hard on creating a great fantasy world for you.